Friday, November 17, 2017

CMT's 'Nashville' to End After 6 Seasons

CMT is the latest network officially getting out of the scripted business. Today, the cable channel has announced that the upcoming sixth season of Nashville will be its last. Moreover, the original comedy Still the King will not be returning for a third season.

The 16-episode sixth and final season of Nashville begins on Thursday, January 4. It will once again be split into two halves - with the final episodes airing in Summer 2018.

Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick return for their second season as showrunners. They executive produce with Steve Buchanan and Callie Khouri. ABC Studios, Lionsgate Television, Opry Entertainment and The Bedford Falls Company produce.

"All of us on Nashville are so incredibly grateful to the show's fans, who convinced CMT to give us a chance to keep telling the story of these remarkable characters," said Herskovitz. "And we want to return the favor with a final season that celebrates all the joys and passions, twists and turns - and amazing music! - that made Nashville such an exciting journey for the last six years."

"After more than 120 episodes of unforgettable television, we believe that creatively it is time for the series to come to its triumphant close at the end of the upcoming season," said Kevin Beggs, Chairman, Lionsgate Television Group. "We're very proud of our incredibly talented cast and crew, the creative brilliance of our showrunners and the loyal support of our great partners at CMT, Hulu and ABC Studios. Most importantly, we owe a special debt of thanks to the Nashville fans who propelled the series to an incredible run. We owe it to them to make the sixth season the most exciting and memorable of all."

Still the King aired its second season this summer where low ratings forced the network to air back-to-back episodes as a burn-off in late night instead of primetime.

CMT is the latest cable channel to produce original scripted programming only to eventually pull out of the genre after experiencing only modest success. CMT's recent push included picking Nashville up after ABC cancelled it following its fourth season as well as comedy Still the King and miniseries Sun Records. But now, the network is focusing on unscripted and docu-series. CMT also isn't one of the key brands that the Viacom portfolio is focusing on at the moment. Those networks are Paramount Network (rebranded from Spike), MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. Viacom's VH1 is another network that dropped all of its scripted offerings - with some moving to BET and others being cancelled. Meanwhile, TV Land has saw three series move over to Paramount with Younger and Teachers as their only remaining scripted offerings. Elsewhere, A&E left the scripted marketplace after Bates Motel wrapped its five-season run. And then, WGN America has shifted its strategy to low-cost acquisitions instead of full-blown originals. And finally, the future of scripted at TLC and Viceland is currently up in the air.